The invention relates generally to floor mats and more particularly to a disposable, slip-resistant, leak-proof mat for infant/toddler high chairs.
As every parent knows, infants and toddlers are messy eaters. They routinely drop or throw food, dishes, and utensils all around the kitchen but particularly on the floor immediately beneath their high chairs. Despite the need to clean up the area after feeding a child, a parent frequently finds that he/she must focus on the child and cannot divide his/her attention to perform the necessary clean-up tasks.
Various previously patented inventions have addressed this problem. However, they all fall short of the present invention in one way or another. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,895 to Deaver discloses a disposable absorbent mat that can be placed beneath a high chair to catch food, etc. With Deaver""s mat, the parent must still take the time and expend the effort to move the high chair to place the mat into position and then move it again to remove the mat for disposal. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 2,585,434 to Caponera discloses a U-shaped floor mat that surrounds the two front legs of a high chair. Although Caponera""s mat does not require moving the high chair to position the mat, it also does not cover the area directly beneath the high chair and therefore does not catch many of the dropped items.
There have also been several tray aprons or troughs more elaborately attached around the high chair, such as those devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,165,123 to Hutson, 5,660,432 to Davis, and 3,298,736 to Decker.
One aspect of the present invention comprises a perforated, absorbent sheet that a user can quickly and easily place beneath an infant high chair so as to catch liquids and foods that have been dropped by the infant during feeding. The perforations are strategically placed and allow the user to quickly tear, fold, and configure the mat beneath the high chair without moving the high chair, thereby covering the entire area under and around the high chair""s legs. The user can then just as easily gather up the mat for disposal when feeding is through.
The preferred embodiment of the sheet has three layers: a top liquid absorbing layer, a middle absorbent layer, and a bottom layer which is not absorbent but is waterproof, so that it provides a barrier between the top layers and the floor. The bottom layer also is slip-resistant and non-adhesive, providing a secure grip on the floor, but one that is easy to break so that the user can quickly gather up the used mat and dispose of it.
The techniques for inexpensively manufacturing such absorbent and slip-resistant materials and for joining such materials together, such as by bonding, are well known in the manufacture of paper, plastic, and rubber/latex products. These techniques can readily be used to manufacture the present invention.